Magnetic north pole moving – Oregon runway renumbered

“The slowly drifting location of Earth’s magnetic north pole means the Hillsboro Airport’s main runway underwent a name change early this week,” says this article in the Hillsboro (Oregon) Argus.
Because runways are designated according to the points on a compass, the changing location of true magnetic north means that the runway sometimes needs to be renamed.

“Experts say magnetic north is slipping slowly from above the Arctic Ocean in a north-northwestern direction toward Siberia, at about 34.2 miles per year. When the magnetic points were recalibrated, Hillsboro, like some other airports, had to renumber its main runway.”
The Hillsboro Airport is also known as the Portland-Hillsboro Airport.
See entire article:http://www.oregonlive.com/argus/index.ssf/2011/09/magnetic_pole_shift_means_new.html

5 thoughts on “Magnetic north pole moving – Oregon runway renumbered”

As happened in Florida some months ago. Ten degrees of magnetic shifting on a runway is a sensible amount.
All tectonics plates are moving, not only the magnetic poles. I saw the number of earthquakes increasing in the Mediterranean basin, in particular in the Adriatic region where a microplate is. This is a sign that Africa is rotating on the Gibraltar fulcrum. We will see what’s going happen…

“Experts say magnetic north is slipping slowly from above the Arctic Ocean in a north-northwestern direction toward Siberia, at about 34.2 miles per year. …”

First off, The North Magnetic Pole is moving faster now than it has since tracking of it began.

I personally wouldn’t call “34.2 miles per year” slow.

Here is an excerpt from the article “Movement of North Magnetic Pole is accelerating” December 9, 2005 http://www.physorg.com/news8917.html
which states clearly that the movement of the North Magnetic Pole is anything but “slow.”

“After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth’s North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century. If that happens, Alaska may be in danger of losing one of its most stunning natural phenomena – the Northern Lights.
But the surprisingly rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesn’t necessarily mean that our planet is going through a large-scale change that would result in the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, Oregon State University paleomagnetist Joseph Stoner reported today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Calif.”

According to Dr. Stoner (Gotta love that name..!)
this “rapid” migration of the Magnetic North Pole doesn’t necessarily mean we will have a Pole reversal.

First off Dr. Stoner says it’s a “rapid” migration of the Pole, which began “after some 400 years of relative stability,…” This is in direct conflict with the “experts” referred to in the Hillsboro Argus article which claims the movement is “slow.”

Second, in the 2005 article Dr. Stoner states that the North Magnetic Pole has moved 1,100 kilometers in a century. If we factor in the “34.2 miles per year…” cited by the Hillsboro Argus we would find that the movement has increased by roughly another 300 kilometers.

I personally think this is a rather rapid movement.

Third, even if the Poles didn’t completely reverse themselves as Dr. Stoner suggests they might not, it would still be a pain in the patuti to have the Magnetic North Pole in Japan, or perhaps at the equator.

So, we have a Paleomagnetics scientist in 2005 calling the movement “rapid,” and Kurt Eckert, of The Hillsboro Argus telling us that “experts” think it is moving “slowly.” Come on Kurt ….. REALLY..? That’s like saying running is standing still.

Well, who are we to believe? In reality I wouldn’t choose either of the above options. Although I think Dr. Stoner of Oregon state University is closer to the mark than Kurt Eckert of the Hillsboro Argus.